Editorial: A victim of Fox News

Shirley Sherrod was caught in the crossfire between the NAACP and the tea party movement. The White House overreacted to the howling on the right, and the Agriculture Department fired her.

Shirley Sherrod was caught in the crossfire between the NAACP and the tea party movement. The White House overreacted to the howling on the right, and the Agriculture Department fired her.

But make no mistake: The assault on Sherrod's character and reputation was launched by conservative blogger Andrew Brietbart and amplified by Fox News, which knew -- or certainly should have known -- the attack was based on a lie.

Breitbart found video of a speech made in March by Sherrod, who is now employed in the U.S. Agriculture Department. He cut two minutes out of a 43-minute speech, and he, Fox and others on the right-hand side of the dial showed it over and over, telling their gullible listeners that it proved Sherrod was a racist who had given poor service to a needy farmer just because he was white.

Unfortunately, the NAACP and the White House fell for it. Wishing to kill the story in a single news cycle, they didn't bother watching the full speech or even calling Sherrod about it. The NAACP denounced her -- just to prove they can denounce racists in their midst, as they demand the tea party do. The USDA put her on administrative leave in the morning and demanded her resignation in the afternoon.

Then someone found the speech.

You can watch the entire, unedited speech at www.naacp.org. It turns out that Sherrod was telling the story of an interaction she had more than 20 years ago, when she was working in Georgia for a nonprofit. The first time she was assigned to help a white farmer fighting bankruptcy, she confessed in the clip so widely circulated, she hesitated momentarily. But she came to see that she must not be racist herself, that her calling is to help all in need, not just those of her own race.

It's an inspirational story, delivering the exact message critics of the NAACP have been making -- that they must be dedicated to the advancement of all people.

It also happens to be a true story. CNN found the farmer and his wife. In an interview, they credit Sherrod with saving the family farm. They can't understand why she's being crucified by the right.

It should come as no surprise to those paying attention, though. This same gang took a couple of snippets from the sermons of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and used them to savage him and then-candidate Barack Obama. They've pulled similar hits on Acorn, on an anti-poverty organization and on Van Jones, a mid-level White House adviser.

The NAACP recovered quickly, apologizing to Sherrod after realizing, its president said, that they had been "snookered" by Breitbart and Fox. The White House apologized the next day, and the Agriculture Department offered to put her back on the job.

And the people who slimed this innocent woman should apologize too, and take a good hard look in the mirror. That applies especially to Fox, which wants to be considered a legitimate news organization.

Fox News has the same commitment to truth-telling as professional wrestling. Like the WWF, Fox creates heroes -- all of whom are conservatives -- and villains -- all of whom are Democrats, and a disturbing number of whom are black. It is a tragedy that millions of people take it seriously.

The rush to judgment by the Obama administration and the NAACP deserves to be criticized. The actions of Breitbart and Fox News deserve to be condemned.